Well kids, we’ve finally made it. The draft has passed, OTA’s and mini camps are done and even that silly pre season is finally over. Now we have real football to occupy our time until February. No games have yet been played and everyone has a clean slate and Super Bowl aspirations. Some fans have legitimate hopes while others simply have false hope. Let’s try to dredge through the muck that is each division and see who really has a legitimate shot at winning the Lombardi Trophy.

NFC East:

I have the Cowboys winning the East again. There has been a decline in this division and the Cowboys have the most talent. Washington is in a perpetual rebuilding year and Philadelphia is putting a lot of trust in a guy with no experience. New York has a good team, but I don’t see them contending for the East or a Wildcard, the NFC is too deep. So the Cowboys win the division their coach however, will prevent them from making the Super Bowl. This fact should scare the hell out of Wade Phillips because the Super Bowl is being played at Jerry World this year and you know he wants nothing more than to pad his already enormous ego with his team playing host in the Super Bowl. This is how the season plays out for Dallas: They roll off 10 to 12 wins and lose before the NFC Championship game in the playoffs, Wade Phillips never coaches again and Jerry begs Jimmy Johnson to stop playing Survivor and come back and coach for him.

NFC West:

Someone has to win this division right? Well Arizona is going to be much worse than the previous couple of years, St. Louis sucks and if Seattle plays like Carroll manages his roster they too will suck. That leaves San Francisco to win the division and bow out in the first round of the playoffs.

NFC North:

Minnesota were a interception away from the Super Bowl last year and again this year Brad Childress has showed his faith in Tavaris Jackson by begging and pleading the forty-year-old #4 to return. He has returned and the only question I have is how long will that forty-year-old surgically repaired ankle last? Not a whole season is my prediction. There are a lot of offensive concerns here most notably the wide receiver position. Their defense is too good to miss the playoffs so I have them as the first Wildcard. Chicago is stuck in the mud with no identity. I wonder how many picks Cutler will throw this year. Detroit will be better and Stafford will continue to improve, but they are miles away from the playoffs. That leaves Green Bay with North title. Aaron Rodgers has been anointed the next coming of [any great quarterback]. He’s got a lot of weapons to play with and he plays at Lambeau Field. The holes in the defense are going to prevent this team from going to the Super Bowl.

NFC South:

The Saints have too much talent not to win the division, so they will, even if Reggie Bush didn’t win the Heisman. Carolina is another team that is looking for an identity. DeAngelo Williams is a nice running back and they have “Crazy” Steve Smith who is tremendous, their problem though could be the guy leading the team. Matt Moore, the pride of Van Nuys, CA has attempted just 249 passes. Tampa might rattle off four wins this year, which will be one more than last year. My remaining Wildcard winner in the NFC is Atlanta. Matt Ryan is going to be a great quarterback in this league for many years to come and you need a great quarterback to be successful. Again, defensive concerns will prevent them from going far.

AFC East:

New England wins the division because that’s what Hoodie does. If Brady can stay on his feet they can go deep in the playoffs. Buffalo is a joke and just might be the best team in the CFL. Miami is still recovering from the Dave Wannstache and Nick Saban era, but are likely the third best team in the division. New York overachieved last year and this year they will be exposed. They have a great defense, but their offensive woes will be their down fall. Not to mention the “Hard Knocks Jinx”.

AFC West:

What a pathetic division.I can’t wait to see those Oakland v. Kansas City clashes. Denver has a little kid coaching them so they won’t be relevant, although they do have the savior Friar Tuck. So San Diego will again roll through the regular season, win the division and fizzle out somewhere in the playoffs.

AFC North:

This might be the best division in football, if they could only find a way to get rid of the Browns there would be no argument. Cincinnati swept the division last year and then took a crap. That’s not going to happen this time around. Baltimore will win the division and go very far in the playoffs. Joe Flacco is going to look very good. He has the deepest receiving core in the league now with addition of TJ Houshmandzadeh. How are they the only team to get this guy, and for cheap, 800 grand. So I’ll give the first Wildcard to Cincinnati and their wacky receivers. The Steelers won’t fool anyone anymore and without Big Ben for four games (as I predicted) they will fall behind early and never recover.

AFC South:

This is an interesting division. Some teams have made strides at catching Indianapolis, but they are clearly the division winners again this year. Tennessee is on the cusp of becoming a good team, they’re going to overuse Chris Johnson though and he will breakdown leaving them out of the playoffs. Does Jacksonville still have a team? There’s one Wildcard spot left and I have mentioned all but one of the 32 teams. That’s right kids; I have Houston winning the second Wildcard spot. Matt Schaub has the best target in the NFL in Andre Johnson. They were first in overall passing last year and they have a nice little running back in Arian Foster, watch out for this guy. Don’t forget the defense and Mario Williams. The Texans finally reach relevance.

So, who’s my Super Bowl pick? I think picking the Super Bowl before a single game is played is stupid, but they’re making me so here it is: Baltimore v. New Orleans; with Baltimore winning by more than a point.

Three of the four agonizing pre season weeks are out of the way and this last week may actually be the worst. The coaches don’t even want to play this week, they already know what fat they’re going to trim to get to that magic 53 number. The only people who care about week 4 of pre season are those looking for a miracle to make the team and some bookmakers. So instead of looking forward to the final week of pre season let’s take a look ahead to the regular season. I’ll give you some things I’m looking forward to and some things I’m not, also I hope you didn’t have your fantasy draft yet, week three always has some pretty significant injuries.

Putting this column together something dawned on me; everything I am looking forward to is a negative. Take for instance me wanting nothing more than #4 to fail. I love when his last pass of the season is a pick. So it got me thinking “Should I not root against him in hopes that he will have an ok season and not throw a pick his last throw of the season and finally friggin retire?” This week though he threw two picks and had a fumble. I love it, retire.

Another thing I look forward to this season is the sociological experiment that is the Washington Redskins. With failure, they get everything they deserve. Time after time, season after season this organization makes horrible personnel decisions; the worst, probably, the Haynesworth signing. Have you ever seen a guy who cared less about playing after he got paid? I would love to see him get cut; the guy (in my opinion) shouldn’t even be in the league. Remember what this tool did to Andre Gurode? If you don’t a quick summary. Gurode had his helmet knocked off and was lying on the ground when the then Tennessee Titan, Haynesworth, stomped on his head with his cleats, twice. I feel just as strongly today as I did then; Dude should not be in the league.

How about some positives? Can’t wait to see the 9ers and the Broncos duke it out in London. Right? Who cares? If you’re a fan of those teams, you don’t want them to travel all that way. If you’re not a fan of either team you don’t care. I think Roger Goodell is about the only person here who cares about playing in England.

Redskins at Eagles should be fun. The four letter network will go bananas hyping this one.

A lot of people can’t wait to see if the Jets can duplicate last season. When was the last time there was so much pub on the Jets? Was Drunky Joe still playing? (I wanna give you a kiss) Whatever Tony Dungy says I still think Rex Ryan is great for the NFL.

As I mentioned above I hope you waited until next weekend to have your fantasy draft. Week 3 in preseason is the only time before the regular season that guys play at 100% and you can just look at the injury reports to prove that.

Two notable injuries to check out happened to Donte’ Stallworth and Jason Campbell. Stallworth will miss about eight weeks. What makes this significant is you may recall; the receiver missed all of last season due to suspension for pleading guilty to DUI manslaughter. Actually he wasn’t suspended for pleading guilty; he was suspended for killing a guy.

Campbell left Saturday’s game with a stinger, however, in the series prior to the stinger he hurt his wrist, which is of much more concern to the Raiders. They are awaiting the results of an MRI.

In Big Ben news: the Commish will meet with him after the Steelers final pre season game this Thursday. I see the sentence being reduced. Why? I ask the same question. Do you think Ben is less of a pervert today than he was six months ago? Doubt it.

Something I am not looking forward to this season is Chris Berman. I can’t take his shtick or his voice anymore. I haven’t watched the Homerun Derby in years thanks to this guy. Back-back-back, STOP IT, I would rather watch my kid run around with scissors. The times have changed and this guy is doing the same crap he was doing 20 years ago. Oh I’m getting annoyed just writing about him. Thank goodness for the NFL network, I’d rather put up with Deion.

For your weekly Tweet update, Dez Bryant broke the news via a tweet that he will be playing this Thursday. Thank you Twitter, don’t know how else we would have gotten that news.